Hot-shooting Pioneers off the flying start
West Greene鈥檚 Kaitlyn Rizor (10) battles for position in the post with California鈥檚 Tayla Pascoe (12) during their game on Dec. 17. (Photo by Celeste Van Kirk)
California鈥檚 Charlee Petrucci (24) defends against West Greene鈥檚 Anna Durbin underneath the basket during Monday night鈥檚 game at West Greene.
California coach Chris Niemiec gives his team instruction during a game at West Greene last year.
West Greene鈥檚 McKenna Lampe drives to the hoop as California鈥檚 Camari Walden (left) and Makayla Boda defend during Monday night's game at West Greene.
West Greene鈥檚 Madison Lampe looks to pass as California鈥檚 Makayla Boda and Jordyn Cruse defend during Monday night's game at West Greene.
West Greene girls basketball coach Jordan Watson likes to tell the story of how he put one single pizza out for his players to eat and they all looked at each other, wondering how they could possibly all share such a small amount.
鈥淲e really had a bunch more in the back,鈥� Jordan said with a laugh. 鈥淲e were just making a point about sharing, that, hey, everybody鈥檚 got to eat.鈥�
There鈥檚 plenty of points to go around these days for the Lady Pioneers. Everybody seems to be getting into the scoring act these days.
鈥淲e do try to spread the wealth around,鈥� Watson said.
A perfect example was on Monday night. The Pioneers put 10 players on the scoring sheet in extending their Section 2-A winning streak to 23 games by cruising past visiting California, 78-33.
Madison Lampe led the way with 18 points for West Greene (5-1, 2-0). McKenna Lampe followed with 16 points and Kaitlyn Rizor dropped in 14 points.
鈥淲e鈥檝e had nine, 10, 11 different girls scoring just about every game,鈥� Watson said.
The loss dropped the Lady Trojans to 2-3 overall and 1-1 in section play.
鈥淭his was a good section win against a team with a good tradition,鈥� Pioneers coach Jordan Watson said. 鈥淚 see them and Avella as potential playoff teams coming out of our section.鈥�
West Greene led 20-9 after one period and 48-13 at halftime before pulling off its vaunted press for the second half.
The Pioneers hit eight 3-pointers with McKenna Lampe sinking four of them while Madison Lampe, Elizabeth Brudnock and freshmen Katie Lampe and Jordan Karvan each had one. West Greene now has 38 3-pointers on the season.
鈥淲e have a lot of girls shooting the ball really well right now,鈥� Watson said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e all shooting with confidence. Pretty much everybody has got the green light to shoot when they鈥檙e open.鈥�
That makes it tough for opponents to concentrate on stopping one or two girls.
鈥淲e have enough scorers where it鈥檚 hard to run a junk defense against us, like a triangle-and-two or a box-and-one,鈥� Watson said. 鈥淎nd if teams go man on us, the Lampes can drive right past you pretty much any time they want.
鈥淲e鈥檙e really tough to defend, the way we鈥檙e playing right now. We鈥檙e capable of scoring a lot of points.鈥�
West Greene鈥檚 hottest shooter currently is Rizor, according to Watson.
鈥淪he鈥檚 just unbelievable right now,鈥� he said. 鈥淓ven at the foul line, she鈥檚 made 18 of 19 free throws.鈥�
Watson still sees room for improvement for his squad.
鈥淲e actually didn鈥檛 start very well against California,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 want to guard anybody.鈥�
The Lady Pioneers eventually stepped on the gas, though, and left the Lady Trojans in the dust.
West Greene traveled to Jefferson-Morgan for another section game Thursday, and will face a stiff test on Saturday when it hosts Wheeling Central Catholic, the West Virginia defending Class A state champion.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e got a 6-2 girl who鈥檚 really good and a lot of talent so it鈥檒l be a challenge for us,鈥� Watson said. 鈥淚t鈥檒l be interesting to see how we do against a team of that caliber.鈥�